Chalcopyrite with Quartz

Unknown Owner

Hedgehog-like aggregates of small terminated Quartz crystals are accompanied by many well-formed brassy to golden tetrahedral Chalcopyrite crystals aggregated together in clusters. It is from the Huaron Mining District in the high Andes mountains in Pasco department, Peru where many of the world's finest Chalcopyrite-Quartz combination specimens have come from. That district contains many mines, but often specific details of where specimens have come from are illusive. This piece from David Hardman's collection is richly crystallized for Chalcopyrite on a world scale but does show damage to a few of the Chalcopyrite crystals. Nevertheless, this is an older piece, probably dating to the 1980s, and material from there is now rarely seen available.